I am the kind of person that could annoy you after a few minutes if I am trying to learn something new.

Why? It’s pretty simple… I ask a lot of questions.

I am a project manager by trade and my specific niche is managing web re-design projects. More and more, we are designing websites and blogs for clients that require greater functionality and programming requirements. With these requests come more of the unknown on my end. I am not a programmer and therefore have found myself, asking programmers questions to understand the full scope of work, as to not allow key elements slip through the cracks. I can manage just about anything, but when it comes to the full understanding of what is and what is not possible in web development, you can be certain I will be consulting my “trusted advisors”, a.k.a. programmers.

Web project managers rely heavily on others’ knowledge in order to quote projects correctly.  We also rely on outside sources to educate us on the steps we need to take to get the project done and how to supply updates to the client of what has been completed (even though sometimes can seem like nothing because it is all behind the scenes in code). Having a team of developers who are detail oriented is important. Without the detail, projects can often be misquoted due to an oversite on the deliverables. Much of the complexity involved in creating a website is making it work properly for a visitor. Without the proper documentation in the beginning, projects can go astray, and before you know it the five page site you quoted has turned into a 40 page e-commerce site.

With documentation come questions, at least for me. When I start to quote a project requiring more than just the simple site development, I ask at least 20 questions to ensure every step is accounted for. If I don’t ask the questions, I risk not knowing the full scope of the project, and could be setting the project up for failure.  We all know it is difficult to manage something when you don’t know what is going on?

I know that not every project will go smoothly, and more often than not a client WILL forget to tell you something… but I feel like my job is to ask all the questions early and gain a complete understanding so the project can go as smooth as possible. The client has come to me and my team because we are the experts and they rely on us to ask the right questions to get what we need from them.

But what good is it all if you are not listening? If you ask the questions, like I do, you must listen and absorb the information you get in return.  Like my friend Matt Bernier of Reinforce Media puts it:

“Hearing what the customer ‘really’ wants and needs as well as what they are saying they want and need requires asking the right questions.”

Listening to the answers the client and other team members give makes for a better understanding of the overall scope. You have to understand each chain link, to fully understand the overall chain that makes up the project, if a chain link is broken, the project will be too.

Maybe it is my obsession for knowing the details, or my fear of not knowing, but I am certain I will never grow tired of asking a lot of questions.

Guardian Pediatrics’ new website hit the web last Friday! The Physicians were extremely excited to have a new site, as this was their first website in the history of the practice. Brandswag also had completed the re-branding for the practice seen here.

The site allows for the physicians to keep their patient’s parents up to date with important information regarding items like, flu shots being available, when to start getting appointments set for school physicals and any other important announcements they may need to broadcast. Through the use of a WordPress framework (CMS), Brandswag was in charge of creating a custom design and integrating that design into the easy to use CMS.

View our portfolio for more great WordPress websites! Are you in need of a new custom design with an easy way to update your site on a regular basis or start blogging? Contact us today to find out more!

Tim O’Brien of  Heartland Painters came to us through a Rainmaker member spotlight sent out in and email newsletter. Tim was to the point and sent me an email and asked if I could help. We met face-to-face to get a better under standing of what Tim was looking to achieve and Brandswag proved to be a great fit, as was Heartland Painters for Brandswag. After looking over our portfolio and our proposal we set up a time line and got started!

I love it when clients are involved in their projects. Keeping the communication open always providing their feedback on the project whether it is good or bad. In this case Heartland Painters was a great project. Tim was involved from start to finish and was timely when it came to letting us know what he thought! He was already very educated having done his own website the first go-around but understood that he needed to focus his time painting and managing his staff and let the web company handle his website!

It was a great experience for both Brandswag and Heartland Painters! We are happy to announce the launch of the new and improved www.heartlandpainters.com! With the new site Tim is able to update his content on the fly and even send blog posts directly from his blackberry! His employees will also have access to updating the site and contribute to the blog. Being a busy business owner we are happy to give Tim the tools he needs to succeed online!

What do you wish your website could do for you? Let Brandswag know and we might be able to make that happen!

Here at BrandSwag we have a launch check list that we run each web site through, before we launch it. Here’s that list:

1. Make Sure WordPress Is Up To Date
This is a very important step. WordPress often releases security updates to fix exploits and bugs. So before we launch the site, we make sure they have the most current version of WordPress. We also teach our clients to look out for the “A new version of WordPress is available” notification, and how to update.

2. Testing and Cross Browser Check
We run each of the sites we make through the gauntlet. Testing every single functionality, making sure they each work in every browser that we support.

3. Validate Code
This step isn’t necessarily important, but it’s one of my pet peeves. There is no reason to not have semantic code. We make sure that our sites do.

4. Add a Favicon
Having a favicon is kind of like having icing on a cake. With out it, the cake is probably still good, but the icing just completes it. Favicons help with branding, and give you one more spot to slap your logo.

5. RSS
Making sure the RSS works properly is a pretty important step. Some users don’t visit sites more than once. Some users just want the content, and that needs to be made available to them.

6. Set Up Google Analytics
We want our clients to know what we have done for them. We want them to be able to measure their ROI. That’s why we set every client up with Google Analytics, to see how many visitors their site is getting a day, and which content their user’s are reading.

7. All Content Is Editable
We set each of our clients up with one of the best content management systems that the web has to offer, WordPress. WordPrss is very powerful if you know how to make themes correctly. We make sure that our clients can edit every single line of text on their site.

8. No Broken Links
Everyone hates broken links. It’s so frustrating to find a link to what you want, only to have it not work. That’s why we test every single link on the site, and make sure that no instance of a broken link can occur through the WordPress system.

There a couple of other items on our list that is a little more specific to our company alone. I just listed the ones I feel are essential for every website. At no point should any of these items be omitted or overlooked.

Do you think there is something we should add to our launch check list? What is it?

You know you all have one… mine happens to be Scope Creep. I like to think it will never happen to me but when it does I kick myself. Trying to avoid it, I ask as many questions as I can to make sure we have  the scope defined and well thought out to estimate the amount of time, resources and overall project budget. Here are a few helpful tips to dodge scope creep as much as possible.

1. Create a contract!
2. Start early and define the project scope clearly.
3. Reduce the number of revisions you’ll allow, and be sure to define what you’re expecting to revise.
4. Before the project starts, actively collect the research and information you need from the client.
5. When someone does inevitably request additional work, respond quickly and professionally with a quote.
6. Divide the projects into phases.
7. Don’t Over commit: Don’t say “yes” just because you are afraid to say “no.”

Do you have some helpful tips to avoid scope creep? I would love to hear them! Or do you have another project pet peeve? Maybe we have some helpful tips for those as well!

Have you ever talked with a customer and said, “Sure today is fine!” and 5pm comes around and you haven’t had time to deliver? That was my biggest hurdle to overcome because I always want to say “yes!” and make the customer happy, when in reality sometimes you just have to say no.

My fall back is I didn’t have a tool to look at to see who was doing what at-a-glance. The pressure to give a quick yes or no was overwhelming and naturally I wanted to make them happy and say yes. In some cases, making them happy and saying yes was the biggest let down for the client (especially when you can’t deliver).

My solution! Not having software to allocate time to each of my resources and then seeing all projects and all resources at a glance, I went the paper route! Color coded and blocked off time allows me to easily, at a glance, see who is working on what and how much more work we might be able to fit in. The thing is, I know there has to be a way to do this electronically!

So please help! Send me suggestions for software (maybe even something that can plugin to BaseCamp) I might be able to use to show the same idea but if some deadlines move, I don’t have to count on whiteout to change everything!

How do you see what your resources are doing at a glance?

Last week we launched a website for Pet Supplies Plus. PSP has four locations around the Indianapolis area. They offer top of the line pet products, and even allow you to wash your dog, right in the store!

I looked forward to putting this site together because of how playful the design was. Jon Mobley did a terrific job on the design, and I enjoy working with him here at BrandSwag.

Make sure to check out the Pet Supplies Plus website, and enter your dog into the Shiny Coat Tangle for a chance to win some great prizes!

The second step to your process will involve the execution or production of the project. Brandswag is a multi-project company, so therefore we use the traditional approach to managing them. This phase will consist mostly of coordinating the project based on resources (people, time and budget) to insure all areas of the project management plan are addressed.
I believe that one of the most important areas in this phase is monitoring and controlling what is going. I have learned lately that I am somewhat of a control freak and to my amazement that can be a good thing. I have my process and it must be carried out in a certain way, or the project is subject to one too many speed bumps. 
It is very important to keep the line of communication open during this phase to let the client know when certain steps have been achieved. There are several steps we have here that require the client to approve the work before it can be moved to the next step. Without the open communication, the client and or the company can begin to loose site of what the entire project may entail.
This open line of communication can translate into whether a client feels as though they are receiving good customer service through out the process, after all it is their project – they should know what is going on at all times.
So…if you are like me, make sure you are organized and focused once the project moves into this phase because all the planning in the world cant help a project that is not monitored and controlled through the production phase

Mark Evans has a great blog post called Is Anyone Paying Attention? Talk about some great everyday life visuals to relate to the transitioning of the web from cluttered to de-cluttered. All of that aside, Mark has a line in his post that was funny and hit me hard at the same time.

The lack of attention is troubling but, ironically, no one seems to be paying much attention to it.

The millennial generation is slowly seeping into the workforce and using productivity tools more often than not. Mark was right when he said online services and websites have one shot to get the attention of the over-used and over-supplied public.

You have ONE shot. ONE.. Numero UNO. Single.

Just one shot to catch the attention of the consuming public. Simple and Sticky. That’s our creed. That should be everyones creed.

Make your website as simple as you possibly can. Use good, smart design to untangle the maze of sales content and information you want to display and put up what gets attention. You have less than 10 seconds to capute MY attention.

Are you going to stick me to a message or push me towards a competitor?

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Today, Brandswag launched http://pscfabricating.com. PSC Fabricating is one of the largest State-side fabricators of fiberglass, foam and other non-metallic materials. We have been pacing ourselves with this site. It has been in development since I started working for Brandswag in March. Through the months this site has proven to be worth the time and effort to develop.

I like PSC because it is a perfect example of an affordable, effective, small web site that works perfectly for small businesses or businesses who can get their message across with a few simple pages. At the very least, your company should have a web site like http://pscfabricating.com.